America Is Impatient Thanks To The Internet

The Internet sure is great, isn't it? It allows us to conveniently search for information, shop and be entertained all from the comfort of our homes. That convenience comes with a price - we're all turning into impatient jerks.

Online Graduate Programs has created a fascinating infographic that displays just how impatient we here in America are when it comes to the Internet and the treasures it can give us. Google found this out when they slowed down search results. The search giant usually fields over 3 billion searches a day. Slowing down the search results by four-tenths of a second led to 8 million less searches.

Another example shows that one in four people will abandon a Web site if it takes more than four seconds to load. Apparently that one person never had to live through dial-up. It gets even worse though when it comes to mobile browsing. Half of all mobile users will leave a site if it doesn't load with 10 seconds. To make matters worse, three of out five will never return to that site.

This is especially disastrous for businesses as 40 percent of e-shoppers will abandon a Web site like Amazon.com if it doesn't load in three seconds. It's said that Amazon could lose up to $1.6 billion a year due to a one second delay on their site.

Unfortunately, our impatience for the Web carries over to the real world as well. Almost half of all Americans would rather pirate a movie instead of going out to watch it in theaters. The impatience applies to our love lives as well with millions of Americans participating in speed dating.

To shame us even more, it was found that the majority of Americans would not wait longer than 15 minutes in line, while one in five people admitted to being rude to someone serving them "too slowly."

Look America, the Internet is great, but give it a break. It's not a magical realm where everything always works. It takes the constant vigilance of overworked and underpaid IT workers to make sure the Internet runs smoothly for you. When it doesn't, just be patient and wait it out. Don't be a jerk either, just be thankful we have the Internet around to show us the joy of keyboard cat. Without such artistic endeavors, we would still be living in the dark age of bad sitcoms and poorly scripted reality TV shows - oh wait.